Darkness Falls
by Tree-Line
Summary: This isn't the Land of Ooo you have come to know and love. When the Lich rises, darkness will fall.
1. The Dream

It was dark. Far darker than Ooo ever had been, for even at night there was moonlight, regularly. Tonight it was blotted out. No moon. No stars. Pitch black. Finn didn't like it.

It could be argued that it was cloudy, or maybe there was an eclipse. Finn knew better, even if Ooo and her people didn't. This was an unnatural darkness.

Finn walked over the long expanse between his treehouse and the aptly named Candy Kingdom, his sword and buckles on his clothes making the only noise the night heard. He told himself he was on patrol, and that he wasn't going anywhere in particular. In truth, he was going to see the princess to find of she shared his suspicions.

The trek was taking longer than usual. Finn was walking slowly, making sure with every step that he didn't hit something in the darkness, but it still felt like the field was stretching on forever. He sighed in frustration, sending a puff of cold steam into the darkness. At this moment, he realized he absolutely freezing.

He lifted his hood, which was the stuffed upper jaw and head of a polar bear he had slain, over his head and unrolled his sleeves. It didn't take long for him to realize this didn't help, as it was getting colder and colder every second. What's going on? he thought, wrapping his arms around himself.

Finn felt a cold drop his hand. He put one hand out, palm up, and felt several more cold drops. It was snowing. It hadn't snowed in Ooo in a long time. Before long, it was snowing too hard for Finn to see the castle on the horizon.

He sighed again. I don't need this. he thought. He turned around to head home, but his home was no longer in sight. What was in sight was a bony figure, silhouetted in the darkness, standing not twenty feet from him. Finn immediately drew his father's sword.

"Who are you?!" he insisted, "How long have you been following me?!" The stalker raised a finger to his mouth and shushed the hero, stepping back and disappearing into the snow. "What?!" Finn cried, "Where did you-"

The wind started gusting hard, pushing Finn down into the now ankle-deep snow. In a moment, the figure was in front of him again, one arm outstretched towards the hero.

"What- What do you want?!"

A burst of light showed the face of the figure. No eyes. The skin around his mouth was torn away.

Finn turned to find the source of the light. A great, luminescent bird had landed on a tree nearby that Finn had not seen.

"What's happening?! Stop!" Finn cried.

The figure moved ever closer, hand outstretched. He shushed Finn again.

The bird screeched.

* * *

Finn woke up in his bed in his treehouse. He looked out his window. It had snowed the night before. It hadn't snowed in Ooo in a long time.

* * *

**A/N **

**Well folks it's been a long time coming. I've had this idea for a fan fiction for a while now. I really hope I can stay focused and keep writing this to completion. This won't be a kids friendly story for long, but I'll be keeping it under the 'T' rating. Just be advised that this isn't the land of Ooo you have come to know.**

**Oh! Almost forgot. A lot of characters from the show will not be present in this story. Jake, for instance, will not make an appearance unless it is very minor. As much as I love Jake, he doesn't really fit in with what I'm trying to do here. Sorry, Jake fans!**


	2. The Book

"The Cosmic Owl."

"The what?"

The princess brushed her pink hair behind her ear, "The Cosmic Owl. You had a premonition dream."

"What does it mean, though?"

"It means exactly what it sounds like; you saw the future in your dream."

Finn shook his head, "No, what does it mean? Who was that bony figure?"

Princess Bubblegum sighed. "I don't know, Finn." She shook her head and turned, "But I have an idea." She gestured for him to follow, "Come."

Finn followed the lady through rooms he had never seen in the castle before. It seemed that every other room had some secret door to be opened to continue. It was clear the princess didn't want whatever she had to ever be found.  
As they progressed deeper into the castle, the light colours were washed away and replaced with cold stone and rotting wood. In most parts of the castle, faint conversation and laughing can be heard. Now there was no noise save for distant drips of water on stone. Every wall was lined with thousands of books. This was normal for Princess Bubblegum, but something was off about these books. Finn couldn't quite put his finger in it, but they seemed sort of... evil. Not it a way that he felt they would start flying or summon a demon, but in a more subtle way. The spines had symbols he didn't understand scrawled in red ink. All of them did.

After walking for what seemed like hours, Finn had no choice but to speak up. "Princess... where are we going? What are all these books?"  
"Finn, I'm sure you know by now that this isn't an area of the castle I want to be seen by the public." She didn't stop walking. "There's a reason for that. Not even I know what these books are. I inherited this castle from my father, and he from his. My father was very adamant about never so much as opening one of these books. I know not what they do, or what they are. However..."

Finn bumped into the princess, as she had stopped walking and turned to face the hero. "There was one, already open. I dare not touch it to turn the pages, but the page it is open to I have read many times over." She had a horrified look on her face. "Come. We're nearly there."

She pulled a candlestick forward, and a loud cranking of old gears resounded through the dark halls. A panel moved back quickly, releasing a thick layer of dust, and slid sideways, revealing a room darker than the rest. A group of rats came skittering out into the hallway and ran off.

Bubblegum walked slowly into the room, and gestured for Finn to follow. She lit a match, barely illuminating the inky blackness of the chamber, and lit two candles.

The candles were placed at the sides of a long, dirty red drape that hung from the ceiling. There was a yellow drawstring that hung alongside it.

"Finn." The princess said, "You are the first person outside the Bubblegum lineage to ever see these halls. When I was a child, my father said that it may be my destiny to figure out what this book means." She grabbed the drawstring and pulled down. The drape began to rise. "But I think it no coincidence that you should be the one to do so, Hero."

The drape was pulled away to reveal the book. It was laid atop a chest-high column, open.

The book contained no words, just black pages. Finn looked at Bubblegum, confused.

"Prepare yourself, Finn. This will be frightening." She blew out the candles, and Finn turned back toward the book.

He stared for several moments at what seemed like nothing.

In a second, the room was illuminated by a white, glowing outline against the black page. It was the bony figure, arm stretched towards the hero, just like in his dream.

The image appeared so suddenly that Finn screamed and was knocked back in fright, and fell to the ground.

"Now you see, Finn." She lit the candles again, and the outline faded away. "I still know not what this means, but I believe you will have to find out." She helped Finn to his feet.

"What- What is he?" Finn was still catching his breath.

"I believe he is a lich."

"What's that?"

"It's a very evil creature that was supposed to have been eradicated long ago, but I never believed they ever existed. I thought it all fairy tales and myths. Clearly I was wrong, and not only are they real..." she looked at the book, "There is at least one left."

"Jesus." Finn mumbled. "Princess... do you know what's going to happen?"

"I know a lot, Finn." she sighed, "But even I don't know that."

"Am I going to die?"

She looked at him in the eyes. "Very probably."

Finn didn't sleep that night.

* * *

**A/N**

**Alright a little exposition going on here. Future chapters will be a bit longer, I promise!**

**You may notice I had Finn say "Jesus" instead of glob. Things like Jesus and God will be mixed in with the globs and grods and whatnot. Just wanted the story to appear a bit more dramatic when it needs to be, and glob is such a silly word.**


End file.
